Adventures in grilling,barbecue and beer

I’m not much of a breakfast eater, often times just grabbing something as I’m rushing out the door to work. Saturday and Sunday mornings, I might wake up and make some eggs and bacon or sausage. Nothing fancy. There’s just something not very appealing to me about getting up and being creative in the kitchen first thing in the morning. I’d rather spend that time getting in more sleep.

My plan for this past Saturday was to sleep in, spend the day lazily on the couch, watching football or something and making a mess of appetizers. One of the appetizers I had planned on making was pigs in a blanket. Well, the dogs had other plans in mind for me. So as I was sitting on the back porch, sipping some coffee and enjoying the first real cold front of the year at an ungodly hour of the morning, I glanced over at my Egg. Inspiration struck me. I would surprise Mrs. G with pigs in a blanket to go along with breakfast! I know….I’m a genius, right?

Trying to figure out the best way to make these maximizing dough to sausage ratio….way to early in the morning…

Ingredients

package of crescent rolls

package of Lil Smokies

Things that aren’t difficult often are early on a Saturday morning…

Start off by opening your package of crescent rolls and unrolling them. Take one triangle and one Lil Smokey and lay the sausage on the dough right where it overhangs it by a tad. Cut the dough here and roll up the sausage. Take the remaining dough, cut it into two triangles and roll up two more sausages. (There maybe other ways to do it, but that’s what my sleep deprived mind came up.)

Pigs In A Blanket on the grill

If you are using a Big Green Egg, pre heat it to 400F. You will want to set it up with the place setter legs down, put the three green feet on top of that (or use 3 spacers). The cookie sheet filled with the pigs will rest on top of that when you are ready to cook them. (If using another type of grill, set it up for an indirect cook and heat to 400F. For an oven, preheat to 375 and cook 12 -15 minutes or until golden brown).

6 minutes in

The package of crescent rolls said they would cook 12-15 minutes at 375F. I heated my Egg up to 400F thinking that the dome temp is usually about 25 degrees hotter than the temperature at the cooking level. I also figured they would probably take a bit longer to cook. Make sure to rotate them once or twice while cooking to ensure that they cook evenly.

About 20 minutes later, checking to make the sure the bottoms were done.

Turns out I was right on the cooking time. These took about 20 minutes to cook when all was said and done.

Served up with an over easy egg.

When they were finished, I took a few in to Mrs. G, who was still snuggled up in bed but beginning to stir. I think she was pleasently surprised and pleased with them. While she was getting up, I cooked myself up an egg, all the while munching on the pigs in a blanket.

Yeah, I could have cooked them in the oven, but cooking them on the Egg allowed me to sit outside and enjoy the cool air while enjoying a cup of hot coffee, reading a book and allowing the dogs to run around. What a great way to start off the day.

What I would do different:

Not much. Not many ways to take a simple, classic appetizer and change it. Next time, I think I might add some cheese, maybe an extra sharp cheddar or a Monterrey Jack. If I was serving these as an appetizer, I think I would offer up a few different dipping sauces as options. Definitely a few mustards, but maybe a bbq sauce, a spicy ketchup or something else.

I find there just aren’t enough hours in the day for sleep. Or maybe I’m just sleep deprived. I can fall asleep anywhere at any time….wish that was a useful job skill. They would make a great appetizer while cooking a brisket, or some ribs or a butt.